Research
Research unlocks new technologies that improve your ships, defenses, and capabilities.
Technology Categories
Basic Technologies
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Energy Technology | Enables Fusion Reactor, +5% energy per level |
| Fusion | +10% energy output per level, plus +5% Fusion Reactor fuel-cell output per level |
| Laser Technology | +5% ship/defense weapon damage and Recycler harvest yield of +1% metal, +2% crystal, and +3% deuterium per level; Military Battlecruisers gain another +5% weapon strength per level |
| Ion Technology | Enables ion weapons |
| Plasma Technology | +10% production per level, 10% multiplicative building-time reduction per level |
Combat Technologies
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Weapon Technology | +10% weapon damage per level |
| Missile Technology | +5% Interplanetary Missile damage per level; Military Cruisers gain +5% weapon strength per level |
| Mobile Shield Technology | +10% ship shield strength per level |
| Defense Technology | +5% defense attack/shield, +15% defense hull, and +5% protected daily production per level |
Propulsion
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Combustion Drive | +12% speed per level (all ships) |
| Impulse Drive | +18% speed per level (all ships), +6% fuel per level |
| Hyperspace Drive | +25% speed per level (all ships), +15% fuel per level |
| Advanced Hyperdrive | Military-only: +20% speed and +10% fuel per level (all ships), plus extra speed for Battlecruiser, Reaper, Wayfinder, Destroyer, and Bomber |
| Hyperspace Technology | +5% cargo capacity per level |
Intelligence & Computing
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Espionage Technology | Better spy reports |
| Counter Intel | +1 effective espionage defense per level |
| Recycler Upgrades | Unlock Reaper-class salvage ships with +25 base shield and +50 base weapon strength per level |
| Fuel Cell Technology | Unlocks Fuel Cell generation from Fusion Reactor output |
| Phalanx Technology | +1 scan range per Sensor Phalanx level |
| Computer Technology | +2 fleet slots at each even level |
| Resource Dens | Legacy research with no direct gameplay effect |
Advanced
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Astrophysics | +1 max planet per level and Interplanetary Missile range (level * 5) - 1 systems; cost curve steepens after level 10 |
| Intel Relay | Shares alliance espionage reports and anchors the intelligence mid-tier |
| Recon Technology | Unlocks Recon missions, +1 Recon mission slot per level, and +5 effective espionage per level |
| Space Dock Research | Unlocks the Space Dock ship, +1 Patrol slot, +2 effective Space Dock Shipyard, +1 effective Space Dock Nanite Factory, and +25% Space Dock deuterium production per level |
| Wayfinder Research | Unlocks Wayfinder ship, +1 Exploration mission slot per level, +5% exploration rewards per level, and +15% base Wayfinder shield per level |
| Moon Base Research | Unlocks moon economy buildings, Shipyards, Research Labs, +1 Trade mission slot and +1 defensive espionage per level, +15% moon resource production per level, doubles moon storage per level after the base 10x moon storage boost, +5 Lunar Base fields per Lunar Base level, and Industry Exchange receipt bonuses by ratio rank |
| Gravitational Navigation | Explorer-tier research that improves expedition rewards, lowers hostile encounter size, and reduces empty ticks |
| Graviton Technology | Enables Deathstar construction with Shipyard 12 and reduces Deathstar self-destruction chance on Moon Destruction missions by 5 percentage points per level |
| Material Physics | -20% at level 1, then -1% ship and defense cost per extra level, -2% building cost per level, plus -5% ship/defense build time per level |
Research Priority Guide
Early Game
- Espionage Technology 4 - See enemy defenses
- Computer Technology 2 - First +2 fleet-slot breakpoint
- Combustion Drive 2 - Faster ships
- Energy Technology 4 - Enable technologies
Mid Game
- Weapons/Shields/Defense - Combat effectiveness
- Astrophysics - More colonies
- Impulse Drive - Faster ships
- Hyperspace Technology - More cargo
- Moon Base Research - Start moon economy scaling once your industry lane is online
Late Game
- Hyperspace Drive / Advanced Hyperdrive - Fastest focus-specific travel
- Plasma Technology 7 - Plasma Turrets
- Graviton Technology - Deathstar
- Gravitational Navigation - Explorer endgame
- Intel Relay - Build toward the intelligence endgame
- Recon Technology - Unlocks Recon missions
- Material Physics - Reduce ship, defense, and building costs while accelerating shipyard throughput
Availability Rules
Research focus trees use section-based gating. Section 1 has no cross-tech prerequisite chain, section 2 needs 8 cumulative levels from section 1, section 3 needs 4 cumulative levels from section 2, and section 4 needs 2 cumulative levels from section 3. Base research times are 25% longer across all technologies, so planning your lab network matters more than before. Research Lab level still reduces research time and remains a per-technology requirement where listed.
Research Focus and Resets
Your first research specialization choice is important. Once you start a research, that focus locks your account into that tree.
You can reset research from the desktop or mobile research screen if you want to choose a different focus:
- All research levels are set to 0.
- Active and queued research is canceled.
- You do not get any Metal, Crystal, or Deuterium back.
- Your research focus unlocks so you can pick a new specialization.
- You receive research credit equal to 50% of the time since the current season started. For example, if the season has been live for 10 days, a reset gives 5 days of research credit.
You can reset as many times as you want. Each reset recalculates the credit from the season start date to the current time.
Research Queue Behavior
You can queue research without having the full resources on hand. If the resources are missing when a research item reaches the front of the queue, that item is canceled.
If you cancel active research, any research credit consumed when that research started is returned along with the active research time already spent on it. Canceling research still does not refund Metal, Crystal, or Deuterium beyond the normal queue cancellation resource return for an active item.
Tech Tree Visualization
Each specialization now follows the same section rhythm:
- Build your foundation in Section 1.
- Reach 8 total Section 1 levels to open Section 2.
- Reach 4 total Section 2 levels to open Section 3.
- Reach 2 total Section 3 levels to open Section 4.
Your chosen specialization still determines which technologies you can actually research, but desktop players can now browse all four specialization trees after selecting a focus. Off-focus trees are view-only, and the section thresholds stay the same on desktop and mobile.